it depends from who you’re supporting: the wide perspective seems like the classic: “you’re fighting uphill an unwinnable war” or something that suggests that “status quo is unbreakable” or something like that
guts: the struggle is eternal
griffith: sometimes hard decisions have to be made to achieve a greater end
What’s the idea of the struggler?
If I could define it, it will be as this user from the r/berserk subreddit did: https://www.reddit.com/r/Berserk/comments/qsadk0/the_concept_of_the_struggler_and_why_it_could_be/
Thinking on Guts, it occurred to me that he’s never been the type to look for meaning as to why his life has sucked. He’d simply accepted/resigned himself to the fact that it was harsh, and kept trying to push forward however possible. Hence him being dubbed a “struggler”, one that fights against fate and cruel reality.
The manga has put the main character Guts through some horrible and mind breaking stuff. That’s why it is impressive to see how he pushed forward regardless.
overall i like the self-growth theme of the series, it starts very individualistic and edgy but slowly guts develops into a better person, starts caring for other people, being vulnerable instead of swallowing all his traumas, relying on others, etc…
The struggler is an ideia that is often very toxic: fighting on despite the unfairness of your life is valid and important, but it’s very easy (and common) to slip into a perception that this is how things should be: people should have to struggle to improve. And we very much know that while self-improvement is a long and arduous road for everyone, it does not mean it should be artificially harder for some and easier for others.
